Drama films

Eric Birling is a seemingly less important character in J.B. Priestley’s thriller, An Inspector Calls, but upon deep analysis, we can see that Eric is a character of great significance and has a huge impact on the play. This can be seen through the structure and shape of this whodunit and some of the language and stage directions. Eric is a very effective tool that Priestley uses to keep the tension going; be it the difference of opinion he has with his father or the suspicious behaviour, or…

Semester One Final Essay: Rethinking The Frogs Debate The two playwrights I have chosen for the purpose of this essay are Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673), known by his stage name as Molière, and Henrik Johan Ibsen (1828-1906). Molière was born on January 15th in Paris, France and is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature. I have chosen Molière as one of my two playwrights because I believe that one of the ways to ‘save society’ is through comedy. Ibsen…

This essay is an analysis of The Theatre Practice’s production of I Came at Last to the Seas held at Singapore’s Esplanade Theatre, directed by Kuo Jian Hong. Written by playwright Wu Xi, the play inverses common understanding of Buddhist philosophy, exploring the unrest and instability of the six roots of sensation through the interwoven narratives of the play’s six central characters. The play is an inquiry into the ideas of belonging and identity: both culturally, as a Chinese in the Chinese…

1) What are the setting and the time period of this play, and how do you see these factors (given circumstances) impacting the lives of the characters? Be sure to include the name of the play. (5 points) "As You Like it," a play composed by William Shakespeare was initially set in the time period of the early 1600’s; however, thanks to a clever ingenious director of this play, Rick Lombardo was able to give the production a slightly modern twist. Due to the initial time period set by William…

This essay is a comparative study of two Absurd plays. But before we start with the essay let’s look at what the Theatre of the Absurd is. The ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ is a post- World War II concept. The first and the most important playwrights of this movement were Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Arthur Adamov and Jean Genet. These plays focus on or represent the absurdity of human existence. Absurdity in this context means disharmony or meaninglessness. This style of writing was first used by…

To what extent can Renaissance drama be said to subvert ideas of social AND/OR moral order? During the Renaissance, plays and drama were extremely popular. Plays were at once available to an audience of all social classes simultaneously and provided a public platform for the spread of commentary on aspects of social, political and religious life in Elizabethan England. Playwrights would frequently use the stage to comment upon the world around them. Without a doubt, the most well-known…

Through non-conventional theatre, in the form of immersive theatre, the performative characteristics of scenic design are scrutinized. By transcending traditional dramatic performances, yet still incorporating similar characteristics taken from conventional theatre, immersive theatre stimulates the spectator’s theatrical experience while still making it new yet familiar. It is crucial to present or evoke an action through the depiction of fictional events, or at least, through the embodiment of…

The word personality is originally from the Latin word called “persona”. It means a theatrical mask worn by performers in order to project different roles or identities. Personality can be defined as the combination of qualities or characteristics which form an individual’s unique character that different from others. The differences are referring to the individuals’ pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving. In order to explain personality, it can be ranging from genetics to the roles of…

Henrik Johan Ibsen has a prominent place in the genre of realism in theatre. He is called the father of realism and modern drama. He was born on March 20, 1828 in Skien, Norway to Knud Ibsen and Marichen Altenburg. His father was a general merchant. Henrik Ibsen’s childhood was full of poverty because of his father’s financial setbacks. At the age of 15, he stopped going to school and joined as an apprentice in an apothecary in Grimstad. The poverty had a strong influence on his plays. He had…

Considered one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman can be seen as praise to a man who, while trying to bring his family into grace, falls in a tragic life. As Centola (25) says, “Miller’s play tells the story of a man who, on the verge of death, wants desperately to justify his life.” Willy is a complex and fascinating man who gradually destroyed himself with false hopes and beliefs. He is a tragic man who, in his whole life, has believed that he would…